A PAIR of drunken teenagers who mounted a smash and grab raid on a Birkdale cycle shop had their plans for a quick getaway scuppered.

The bungling burglars were stopped by police only 50 metres from the premises they targeted shortly after midnight last Saturday morning - after finding they had taken a £450 mountain bike with no pedals and its tyres deflated.

A 15-year-old from Liverpool, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to the offence at North Sefton Magistrates’ Court on Monday and his case has now been remitted to Liverpool Youth Court for sentencing.

The court heard that the youth told police after his arrest he had drunk 11 bottles of lager that night.

Speaking to the Visiter after the hearing, Dave White, owner of Birkdale Cycles, said he and his wife, Sue, were awoken in their home above the shop on Liverpool Road by the sound of its front display window being kicked in.

He found the window almost completely shattered and a Land Rover mountain bike retailing at £450 missing from the display.

Dave said: “I ran downstairs with a heavy hickory stick I keep for protection while Sue rang the police.

“One came back to have a go at another bike, but then they saw me on the other side of the glass. They were both drunk.”

The youths also took a cycle helmet worth £25 - ironically given one had risked serious injury by leaning through the hole in the window when the remains of the pane could have fallen on him.

Dave said several police vehicles arrived almost immediately and the burglars were arrested on nearby Sandon Road.

The shopkeeper said: “It upset my wife but I always knew there was a possibility this would happen.”

Dave said he was aware of a number of incidents of anti-social behaviour on Liverpool Road, including vandalism at a vacant cottage across the road from his shop. The 60-year-old is now going to install steel shutters on his shop.

The 15-year-old who appeared at North Sefton Magistrates’ Court was bailed to appear at Liverpool Youth Court on March 13, to be sentenced on all matters he has outstanding.

His bail conditions consisted of being fitted with an electronic tag and being subject to a night-time curfew.

A Merseyside Police spokeswoman said on Tuesday that a second male, aged 17, was arrested in connection with the incident and is on police bail.